Eels tell rivals not to approach Jamie

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Parramatta have warned rivals against making a play for star centre Jamie Lyon. Photo: Getty Images

Parramatta require runaway star Jamie Lyon to agree not to play for another NRL club until the end of 2006 before they will grant him a release to play for country team Wee Waa.

The club has warned that if any other club approaches Lyon while he is still contracted to Parramatta it could become an anti-tampering issue to be dealt with by the NRL.

Speculation is rife that Manly have gone after Lyon in the hope of signing him for next season, and that Sea Eagles recruitment manager Noel Cleal is a key figure in that play.

Cleal was formerly the recruitment officer for the Eels, but split with them in acrimonious circumstances last year and rejoined the club he starred for as a player.

Asked yesterday if his club was chasing Lyon, Manly chief executive Paul Cummings said: "We have not been involved in any discussions relating to Jamie Lyon. He is a Parramatta player and anything that happens with him is up to them."

Cummings said the Sea Eagles would love to talk to Lyon if he became a free agent.

"I'm sure every club would be interested in a player like him if he was available," Cummings said. "But unless he becomes available there is nothing we or any other club can do."

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Cleal defended himself against talk he was trying to snare Lyon for Manly, saying: "I'm great friends with Jamie, that's all, and I'm going to stay that way, for him.

"I brought him to Sydney when he was 15 and I'm closer to him than any other player I've recruited."

Parramatta forwarded a document to Lyon's manager, Allan Gainey, on Friday and Gainey has sent a copy of it on to Lyon in Wee Waa in north-western NSW.

Neither the Eels nor Gainey were prepared to say what was in it, other than to confirm that it included a proposal under which Lyon would be cleared to play for Wee Waa this year if he agreed to certain conditions.

Parramatta had previously said Lyon would not be cleared to play for Wee Waa this year.

But The Sun-Herald understands that for Lyon to get an immediate release to play for Wee Waa, he would have to agree to play for the Eels if he plays in the NRL before his Parramatta contract runs out at the end of 2006.

The Sun-Herald contacted Parramatta chief executive Denis Fitzgerald yesterday and asked if he could confirm that was the arrangement. He replied: "I will neither confirm nor deny anything like that."

Asked if he thought Manly were after Lyon, Fitzgerald replied: "I haven't heard anything from them to suggest that is what they are trying to do."

But he did say that while Lyon remained a Parramatta contracted player, anti-tampering would become an issue if another club approached him.

"Right now nothing has changed and Jamie is contracted until the end of 2006, so if there was an approach it could be deemed to be breaking the anti-tampering rules," he said.

NRL chief executive David Gallop confirmed that was the case.

Cleal said he kept in close touch with Lyon.

"I've been pig-shooting with Jamie recently and we'll go again soon," Cleal said. "And we have regular dialogue over the phone. I'm concerned for him as a person, above everything else. I want him to be happy.

"I think it's a footballing tragedy that a player as good and as charismatic as he is is not playing football for someone - even Wee Waa.

"I know people will suggest I'm trying to get Jamie across to Manly. I can't help that. I'm his friend, so people might think that. I'm just trying to be someone he can talk to."